Project Loon

Google launched Project Loon back in 2013 to experiment with the idea of bringing Internet connectivity, specifically 4G LTE to normally inaccessible areas using high-altitude balloons. Now a company in its own right under the Alphabet family, Loon LCC is now in a position to do more than just test flights. It can now sign deals with local telcos to actually bring those plans to fruition, like what it will be doing in Peru to bring 4G Internet speeds remote regions in the country.

Alphabet's Project Loon has brought basic communications back to parts of Puerto Rico for individuals who have LTE phones. The communications are being made possible by Project Loon's balloons; they're currently giving people access to the Internet and text messaging in parts of the island hit hardest by Hurricane Maria. The team has been working with a variety of groups to make this possible, including the FAA and FCC.

This is what Project Loon was made for. Well, perhaps not exactly the dire situation facing Puerto Rico at the moment. But the balloon-powered Internet delivery dream was meant to bring connectivity to places where traditional lines can't reach. And that is more or less what the hurricane-battered Caribbean US territory is going through after Maria caused massive destruction, affecting both power and Internet services. Thankfully, the FCC just gave Alphabet's X an experimental license to help Puerto Rico repair its network grid.

Google, or rather its Alphabet parent, has given up on its plans to get drones to deliver Internet connections to remote places. That means that Project Loon, which now falls unde Alphabet's X subsidiary, will bear the brunt of the responsibilities and expectations. Good thing, then, that the folks behind Loon have stumbled upon a method that allows these Internet-bearing balloons to linger over an area for longer periods of time.

Google started its Project Loon several years back with the goal of putting a balloon into the stratosphere that carried with it tech needed to beam internet access to people on the ground. The goal was to use the balloons to connect parts of the world where internet was unavailable or very slow. Over the summer, a balloon of this sort was launched in Peru and it stayed there for 98 days.

In order for Project Loon to be successful in bringing Internet connectivity to places where it is normally unavailable, the balloons that carry the equipment to make that possible need to survive up in the air for weeks, months even. That itself is already a challenge, but trying to craft a balloon down here on earth that will survive way up there is almost next to impossible. That is, without trying to pluck a piece of heaven in order to test the extreme conditions that balloons will experience in Earth's stratosphere.

Google says that in Indonesia, only 1 out of 3 people is connected to the Internet. Now, that number might not sound that bad until you consider that for this country, that translates to more than 100 million people. Add in the fact that Indonesia is a sprawling archipelago spanning 17,000 islands and you've got a recipe for a logistics nightmare for Internet service providers. Luckily, Google is coming to the rescue. With the cooperation of the country's three top telcos, its Project Loon will launch to the air next year to provide Internet coverage for all.

Considering the nature of Google's business, it is no surprise that it is intent on getting as many people connected to the Internet as possible. One of its ambitious plans is the use of high-flying balloons as makeshift flying mobile towers. These balloons float at a height of 20 km, in the stratosphere layer of our atmosphere and far, far above the 10km used by commercial planes. The balloons can form a network that beams Internet signals back to earth to enable connections in places that cannot be reached through traditional channels.

For this experiment, which starts in 2016, Google has partnered with Indosat, Telkomsel, and XL Axiata, the country's biggest mobile network operators. Google hasn't given specific dates or areas covered, though it does hint at providing connections from Sabang to Merauke, the two outermost tips of the archipelago.

Google also boasts that Loon isn't its first attempt to cater to the Indonesian populace. The country, after all, was one of the first to get the budget-friendly Android One smartphones. Affordable Internet devices paired with accessible Internet will make not only users happy but Google also in business.

Sri Lanka is now well on its way to becoming the first country in the entire world to have universal internet coverage. This is thanks to Google Loon, a project in which Google sends up balloons over the country to relay internet to the entire populace. This service is delivering what they call "affordable high-speed internet", though we're not entirely sure of the speed just yet, and the project is a collaboration between Google and the Government of Sri Lanka.

Google’s Project Loon has turned two, and it has achieved various milestones during its short life. The pilot test for the balloon-based Internet project took place in 2013, which the Project Loon team says successfully connected Charles Nimmo, a sheep farmer, to the Internet. The project came to fruition even earlier than that, though, with the first tests involving it having happened all the way back in 2011. Those very early tests involved using easily obtainable radio components and a weather balloon.

Google's Project Loon, bringing internet connectivity to out of the reach areas using balloons, sounded ridiculous at first. Turns out, according to Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai, that silly idea is actually floating pretty well. Speaking during his Mobile World Congress keynote in Barcelona today, Pichai revealed the latest stats for the floating web platforms, which can now stay up in the air for as long as six months.

Drones, balloons, rockets — Google has seemingly endless schemes for delivering Internet to us. We may be largely stuck on the ground, but that doesn’t stop us from beaming info all over the place. In a new letter to the FCC, Google outlines their case for spectrum. Rather than get into the spectrum wars carriers are engaged in, google is going over their heads; literally and figuratively. Rather than frequencies you and I are largely familiar with, Google wants some in the 24GHz neighborhood.

Project Loon, Google's initiative to bring affordable, high-speed internet to the entire world via hot air balloons acting as floating hotspots, is getting some new help from CNES, France's space agency. Google is relying on CNES's over 50 years of experience and research with high-altitude balloons to bring this project closer to reality.